AP CHEMISTRY SYLLABUS
Course Description
This AP Chemistry course is the equivalent of the general chemistry course
usually taken during the first year of college. For most that this course, it will
enable them to undertake, as a freshman, second year work in the chemistry
sequence at their institution or to register in courses in other fields where
general chemistry is a prerequisite. This course is structured around the six big
ideas articulated in the AP Chemistry curriculum framework provided by the
College Board.
Emphasis will be placed on the seven science practices, which capture
important aspects of the work that scientists engage in, with learning objectives
that combine content with inquiry and reasoning skills.
AP Chemistry is open to all students that have completed a year of chemistry.
Textbook and Resources
Chemistry Ninth Edition Zumdahl, Steven and Susan Zumdahl.
Belmont CA: Cengage Learning, 2014.
The College Board. AP Chemistry Guided Inquiry Experiments: Applying the
Science
Practices. 2013.
Laboratory Experiments for Advanced Placement Chemistry, Guided-Inquiry
Edition Sally Ann Vonderbrink, Ph.D.
Required Materials
Graphing calculator, splash proof goggles, and a carbon capable laboratory
notebook
LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS
The laboratory work is designed to be the equivalent of a college laboratory
experience. Because some colleges require proof of the laboratory portion of the
course before granting credit, all students will keep a laboratory notebook,
provided by the teacher. A minimum of twenty-five percent of instructional
time will be spent in the laboratory.
Laboratory Program
The laboratory activities are “hands-on” labs so the students can accomplish
multiple trials and can use statistical analysis to derive conclusions. Students are
required to have a bound student carbonless duplicate lab notebook and three
ring binders, which will be used as their lab portfolio. For each lab, students
complete a lab report that includes replicated data tables and answers to the post
lab discussion. These items are collected and graded as part of their lab grade.
These reports are returned and stapled into their lab notebooks. Students are
required to work in groups of two.
The laboratory work requires students to design, carry out, and analyze data
using guided-inquiry principles. For all labs, students are required to report the
purpose, procedure, all data, data analysis, error analysis, results, and
conclusions in a lab report that is submitted for grading. The students collect,
process, manipulate, and graph data from both qualitative and quantitative
observations. Inquiry is emphasized in many of the experiments that students
complete.
The labs are all “wet labs.” Ten of the labs are guided inquiry based. Each
report in the student’s laboratory notebook has sections on purpose, procedure,
equipment needed, data, analysis, questions for the students to answer, and
conclusion. Students may be asked to bring lab notebooks as evidence for
college credit.
Students are required to turn in completed laboratory reports for each lab. Each
student is required to communicate their results once per semester using a
method of their choice.
Laboratory Equipment
The school is equipped with glassware (beakers, flasks, burets, test tubes,
pipets, etc.), instruments such as analytical balances, centrifuges, ovens, etc.,
and data gathering probes. All of the students have access to a computer with a
full range of MS Office products on them. In addition, all computers have data
analysis software to analyze laboratory data. Data can be collected (1) by the
students, (2) via computer, or (3) via data gathering handheld units. All data is
recorded in their laboratory notebook.
Laboratory Report
Laboratory Notebook:
A laboratory notebook is required for the course. All completed lab reports
documenting all lab experiences must be included in the notebook. The
notebook is checked every nine weeks with a final check at the end of the
course.
Advanced Placement Chemistry — The Laboratory Notebook
A record of lab work is an important document, which will show the quality of
the lab work that students have done with a lab partner.
A specific format will be given to the student for each lab. Students must follow
that format and label all sections very clearly. AP Chemistry lab reports are
much longer and more in depth than the ones completed in the first-year
chemistry course. Late labs will not be accepted.
Pre-Lab Work
Pre-lab work is to be completed and turned in on the day the lab is performed.
1. Title
The title should be descriptive. For example, “pH Titration Lab” is a descriptive
title.
2. Date
This is the date the student performed the experiment.
3. Purpose
A purpose is a statement summarizing the “point” of the lab.
4. Procedure Outline
Students need to write an outline of the procedure. When the student is doing a
guided inquiry lab, they are required to write out the full procedure.
5. Pre-Lab Questions
Students are given some questions to answer before the lab is done. They are
required to either rewrite the question or incorporate the question in the answer.
When a college professor looks at a student’s lab notebook, they should be able
to tell what the question was by merely looking at their lab report. It is
important to produce a good record of lab work.
6. Data Tables
Students will need to create any data tables or charts necessary for data
collection in the lab.
7. Data
Students record all their data directly in their lab notebook. Do not record data
on a separate lab sheet. Label all data clearly and always include proper units of
measurement. Students should underline, use capital letters, or use any device
they choose to help organize this section well and space things out neatly and
clearly.
Post-Lab Work
8. Calculations and Graphs
Always show how calculations are carried out. Title the graphs, axes need to be
labeled, and units need to be shown on the axis. To receive credit for any
graphs, they must be at least ½ page in size.
9. Conclusions
This will vary from lab to lab. Students will be given direction as to what to
write, but it is expected that all conclusions will be well thought out and well
written.
10. Post Lab Error Analysis Questions
Follow the same procedure as for Pre-Lab Questions.
Course Outline: Big Idea / Science Practices
This course follows the six big ideas and seven science practices as designated
by the College Board.
Big Idea 1:
The elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can
be understood in terms of arrangements of atoms.
Big Idea 2:
Chemical and physical properties of matter is explained by the structure and the
arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them.
Big Idea 3:
Changes in matter involves the rearrangement and recognition of atoms and the
transfer of electrons.
Big Idea 4:
Rates of chemical reactions determines the details of the molecular collisions.
Big Idea 5:
The laws of thermodynamics are the essential role of energy and explain as well
as predict the direction of changes in matter.
Big Idea 6:
Bonds or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken. These two
processes are in dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and
external forces.
Science practices
Science Practice 1:
The students use representations and models to communicate scientific
phenomena and solve scientific problems.
Science Practice 2:
The students use mathematics appropriately.
Science Practice 3:
The students are engaged in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to
guide investigations.
Science Practice 4:
The students plan and implement data collect ion strategies in relation to a
particular scientific question.
Science Practice 5:
The students perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
Science Practice 6:
The students work with scientific explanations and theories.
Science Practice 7:
The students are able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales,
concepts, and representations in and across domains.
GUIDED INQUIRY LAB:
Students are given the materials to conduct various procedures. They construct a
procedure for each of the eight changes to be observed, have their procedures
approved by the instructor, and then carry out the procedures.
Guided-inquiry (10) labs require two days of work or two double labs
periods:
1.Determination of the Formula of a Compound
2.Finding the Ratio of Moles of Reactants in a Chemical Reaction
3.Progressive Precipitation
4.Hess’s Law
5.Relationship Between the Spectrum and Absorbance of Light
6.Conductivity of Solids & Metals
7.Factors that affect reaction rates, and determining reaction rates and reaction
mechanisms
8.Equilibrium Position
9.Hydrolysis of Salts
10.Electrochemical Cells
Tests:
A chapter test is assigned for each chapter. A comprehensive, standardized
semester exam is administered at the end of 1st semester and a final exam at the
end of the year.
AP Exam Review:
The final ten full class days before the AP Chemistry Exam are used for exam
review and practice tests using old AP Chemistry exam materials. Students
work in cooperative groups to solve a packet of free response problems from
previous exams. Students practice net ionic equations and are quizzed on their
progress. Several practice AP Exams are administered as part of the two-week
review prior to the AP Chemistry Exam.
OVERVIEW
Unit 1:
Chemical Foundations (10 days)
Scientific Method
Units of Measurement
Significant Figures
Solve problems systematically
Dimensional Analysis
Temperature and Density
Matter
Labs:
Safety/Lab Skills/Lab Preparation
Ion Chromatography
Kool Aid Chromatography
Fractional Distillation
Activity:
Based on the Kool Aid Chromatography lab, students write
an analysis on the GRAS (generally regarded as safe)
requirements, the use of, the chemical structure of, and
problems associated with certain food dyes.
Unit 2:
Atoms, Molecules, and Ions (8 days)
History of Chemistry
Chemical Laws
Dalton’s Atomic Theory
Characterize Atoms and Atomic Structure
Molecules and Ions and Periodic Table
Naming compounds
Labs:
Determination of Avogadro’s Number
Unit 3:
Stoichiometry
Counting and Weighing
Atomic Masses
Solving problems
% composition of compounds
Determine the formula of a compound
Balance Chemical Equations
Stoichiometric Calculations
Limiting Reactants
Labs:
Guided Inquiry:
Determination of the Formula of a Compound
Guided Inquiry:
Finding the Ratio of Moles of Reactants in a Chemical Reaction
Chemical Reactions of Copper and Percent Yield
Activity:
Use data from synthesis or decomposition of a compound
to confirm the conservation of matter and the law of definite
proportions. The students present problems to the class in which they
demonstrate how to find the empirical formula of a compound
from data on the percent composition by mass.
Unit 4:
Types of Chemical Reactions and Solution Stoichiometry (11 days)
The Universal Solvent (water)
Nature of Aqueous Solutions (Strong and Weak)
Composition of Solutions
Types of Reactions
Precipitation Reactions
Reactions in Solution
Precipitation Reactions Acid-Base
Redox Reactions (Balancing)(Equations)
Labs:
Use of a Primary Standard — KHC8H4O4 Reduction of Permanganate
Guided Inquiry:
Progressive Precipitation
Unit 5:
Gases (9 days)
Pressure
Gas Laws: Boyle, Charles, Avogadro
Ideal Gas Law
Gas Stoichiometry
Kinetic Theory of Gases
Effusion and Diffusion
Real Gases
Chemistry of the Atmosphere
Labs:
Investigating Graham’s Law
Ideal Gas Law
The Determination of the Molar Mass of a Volatile Liquid
Unit 6:
Thermochemistry (10 days)
Nature of Energy
Enthalpy and Calorimetry
Hess’s Law
Enthalpy of formation
Present sources of energy
New energy sources
Labs:
Guided Inquiry:
Hess’s Law
Heat of Combustion of Magnesium
Activity:
Students relate temperature to the motions of particles, either via particulate
representations, such as drawings of particles with arrows indicating velocities,
and/or via representations of average kinetic energy and distribution of kinetic
energies of the particles, such as plots of the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.
Students are accountable for answering homework questions about particle
motions and kinetic energies of a sample at different temperatures while
viewing a Podcast. The podcast begins with particulate animations and the
narrator interprets the animations to show how kinetic energy distributions can
explain the effect of temperature on the rate of a chemical reaction. The
questions lead to the interpretation of activation energy on the distribution curve
and eventually the refining of collision theory.
Unit 7:
Atomic Structure and Periodicity (10 days)
Electromagnetic Radiation
Nature of Matter
Atomic Spectrum of Hydrogen
Bohr Model
Quantum Mechanical Model of the Atom
Quantum numbers
Orbital Shapes and Energies
Electron Spin Pauli Principle
Polyelectronic Atoms
Aufbau Principle
Atomic Properties
Properties of a Group Alkali Metals
Labs:
Guided Inquiry:
Relationship Between the Spectrum and
Absorbance of Light
Poison in the Kool Aid-A Spectroscopic Inquiry
Beer’s Law
Activity:
Justify with evidence the arrangement of the periodic table and apply periodic
properties to chemical reactivity. Students are given several elements pairing
them by families or by period and are asked to rationalize the change in
electronegativity of each group based on the electronic structure of the atom
Unit 8:
Bonding: General Concepts (9 days)
Types of chemical bonds
Electronegativity
Bond polarity and Dipole moments
Ions: Electron configuration and size
Energy effects in binary compounds
Partial ionic character of covalent bonds
Covalent bond energies and chemical reactions
Localized electron bonding model
Lewis structure
Exceptions to the Octet Rule
Resonance
VESPR Model
Lab:
Molecular Geometry
Guided Inquiry:
Conductivity of Solids & Metals
Activity:
Use Lewis diagrams and VSEPR to predict the geometry
of molecules, identify hybridization, and make predictions about
polarity. Students construct balloon models of the arrangement of pairs
of electrons around a central atom. Students draw 2D pictures of these
arrangements and apply these to predicting the shapes of molecules.
Unit 9:
Covalent Bonding: Orbitals (9 days)
Hybridization and localized electron model
Molecular Orbital Model
Bonding in Homonuclear Diatomic molecules
Combining localized electron and molecular models
Photoelectron spectroscopy
Lab:
Determination of the Formula of a Hydrate
Unit 10:
Liquids and Solids (8 days)
Intermolecular forces
Liquid state
Structures and types of solids
Structure of bonding metals
Carbon and Silicon and network atomic solids
Molecular solids
Ionic solids
Vapor pressure and changes of state
Phase diagrams
Labs:
The Structure of Crystals
Enthalpy of Vaporization of Water
Unit 11:
Properties of Solutions (8 days)
Solution composition
Energies of solution formation
Factors affecting solubility
Vapor pressures of solutions
Boiling point elevation and freezing point depression
Osmotic structure
Colligative properties of electrolyte solutions
Colloids
Lab:
Freezing Point Depression
Winter of Tomis
http://chem.lapeer.org/Chem2Docs/APChem2Manual.
html#tomis
Unit 12:
Chemical Kinetics (12 days)
Reaction rates
Rate laws
Determining the form of rate laws
Reaction mechanisms
Integrated rate law
Model for chemical kinetics
catalysis
Labs:
Reaction Rates
Rate Law Determination: Crystal Violet Reaction
Guided Inquiry:
Factors that affect reaction rates and
determining reaction rates and reaction mechanism
Activity:
Translate among reaction energy profile representations,
particulate representations, and symbolic representations
(chemical equations) of a chemical reaction occurring in the
presence and absence of a catalyst. Students create energy diagrams to explain
why catalysts and raising the temperature can increase the rate of a chemical
reaction.
Unit 13:
Chemical Equilibrium (11 days)
Equilibrium condition
Equilibrium constants
Equilibrium expressions
Heterogeneous Equilibria
Applications for Equilibrium constants
Solving Equilibrium problems
Le Chatelier’s Principle
Labs:
Guided Inquiry:
Equilibrium Position
Equilibrium Constant Determination
Equilibrium of Ethyl Acetate
Activity:
Given a set of experimental observations regarding physical, chemical,
biological, or environmental processes that are reversible, the student is able to
construct an explanation that connects the observations to the reversibility of the
underlying chemical reactions or processes.
Students view the NO2/N2O4 Equilibrium simulation available on the General
Equilibria Animations and verbally report and discuss their answers to teacher
supplied questions regarding the number of reactant and product molecules
present at a particular point in the equilibrium process, the breaking and
forming of bonds during the process, and how the reactant and product
molecules are changing in order to illustrate the dynamic nature of equilibrium.
Unit 14:
Acids and Bases (11 days)
Nature of acids and bases
Acid strength
The pH scale
Calculating pH strong acids
Calculating pH weak acids
Bases
Polyprotic acids
Acid-base properties of salts
Effect of structure of acid-base properties
Acid-base properties of oxides
Lewis acid-base model
Strategy of solving acid-base problems
Labs:
Ka
Prelab
Determination of Dissociation Constant of Weak Acids
Guided Inquiry:
Hydrolysis of Salts
Determination of Vitamin C and Aspirin Content
Students are provided the opportunity to engage in a minimum of 16 hands-on
laboratory experiments integrated throughout the course while using basic
laboratory equipment to support the learning objectives listed within the AP
Chemistry Curriculum Framework.
The laboratory investigations used throughout the course allow students to
apply the seven science practices defined in the AP Chemistry Curriculum
Framework.
At minimum, six of the required 16 labs are conducted in a guided-inquiry
format. The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory
environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 4: Rates of
chemical reactions.
The course provides students with opportunities outside the laboratory
environment to meet the learning objectives within Big Idea 6: Equilibrium.
.
Unit 15:
Applications of Aqueous Equilibria (16 days)
Solutions for acid-base with common ions
Buffer solutions
Buffer capacity
Titrations and pH curves
Acid-base indicators
Labs:
Acid-Base Titration
Titration of a Diprotic Acid
Titration Curves of Strong and Weak Acids and Bases
Determination of a Solubility Product Constant
Buffered Solutions
Unit 16:
Solubility and complex ion equilibria (10 days)
Solubility equilibrium and product
Precipitation and qualitative analysis
Equilibrium involving complex ions
Labs:
Determination of Soluble Chloride
Percentage Calcium in Calcium Supplements
Unit 17:
Spontaneity, entropy and free energy (11 days)
Spontaneous process and entropy
Entropy and second law of thermodynamics
Effect of temperature on spontaneity
Free energy
Entropy changes in chemical reactions
Free energy and equilibrium
Free energy and work
Dependence of free energy on pressure
Labs:
A Chemical Activity Series
Corrosion
Electroplating
Guided Inquiry
Electrochemical Cells
Unit 18:
Electrochemistry (8 days)
Balancing oxidation-reduction equations
Galvanic cells
Standard reduction potentials
Cell potential electrical work and free energy
Dependence of cell potential on concentration
Batteries
Corrosion
Electrolysis
Commercial electrolysis process
Lab:
Using Conductivity to Find an Equivalence Point
Unit 19:
The Nucleus: A Chemist View
Nuclear stability and radioactive decay
Kinetics of radioactive decay
Nuclear transformations
Detection and uses of radioactivity
Thermodynamic stability of the nucleus
Nuclear fission and fusion
Effects of radiation
Unit 20:
Representative Elements
Survey of representative elements
Group 1A elements
Chemistry of hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus
Group 2A to 8A elements
Labs:
Percent Sulfate in a Mixture
Unit 21:
Transition Metals and Coordination Chemistry
Transition metals first row metals
Coordination compounds
Isomerism
Bonding of complex ions: electron model
Crystal field model
Biological importance of coordination complexes
Metallurgy and iron steel production
GREEN CRYSTAL LAB
A series of labs completed over a 4-week period. Students work at their
own pace in pairs. The goal of this lab is to determine the empirical formula of a
ferro-oxalato crystal. It includes the following experiments:
Experiment 1: Synthesis of the crystal, Experiment 2: Standardization of
KMnO4 by redox titration,
Experiment 3: Determination of % oxalate in crystal by redox titration,
Experiment 4: Standardization of NaOH by acid/base titration,
Experiment 5: Determination of % K+ and Fe3+ by ion exchange
chromatography and a double equivalence point titration,
Experiment 6: Determination of the % water in the hydrated crystal.
UNIT 22:
Organic and biological molecules
Alkanes and saturated hydrocarbons
Alkenes and alkynes
Aromatic hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbon derivatives
Polymers
Natural polymers
Lab:
Polymerization
Organic Molecule Models